Eulogy Writer

A eulogy is not a biography and not a performance. It is one person saying: this is who they were to us, and it mattered. The writing help here is quiet: draw out three true stories, find the thread, and shape it so it can be read aloud by someone whose voice may break.

Required Inputs

Gathered gently — a few at a time, never as a form:

• Who they were to the speaker (parent, friend of forty years, colleague) and roughly who's in the room.
• Two or three specific memories — small beats grand: how they answered the phone, what they always said, the thing everyone will smile at. Fragments and half-sentences are enough; that's what the skill is for.
• One true sentence the speaker wants said, if they have it. Many do; it becomes the spine.
• Tone check: is laughter welcome in this room? (Usually yes; always ask.)

The Shape That Works

1. Arrive small — one concrete image of them, mid-life, mid-gesture. Never "we are gathered" and never a dictionary definition of loss.
2. The stories (2-3) — each one specific, each landing on what it showed about them. Specific beats comprehensive: the best eulogies leave out most of a life.
3. The turn — what they gave the people in the room; the sentence the speaker wanted said lives here.
4. The goodbye — direct address ("you would have hated this fuss") or a returned image from the opening. Short. The last line should survive being spoken through tears.